Watching River
by IcedTeaInTheEvening
Summary: When River agreed to testify against one of the most illusive criminals out there, the one thing she didn't agree to was having Victor Benedict assigned to protect her.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I know I should be finishing my other FF but I needed a story break. So... heres Victor's story. Enjoy.**

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><p>I sat back in the steel chair and stared back at myself through the reflection of the two-way mirror in front of me. Nobody had come to speak to me since I had arrived and I had lost track of how long I had sat here. If it wasnt for the fact that I was positive somebody was staring back at me from the observation room, I would have been up examining the room. I had always been interested in forensics and crime scene investigating so the thought of this morning had a smile playing across my lips. I had been woken up at an ungodly hour by two guys who were channeling the "Men In Black" vibe and escorted me to the FBI offices in my pjs. My super quick tour of the FBI had ended with me being shut in this room with a bottle of water that sat in front of me unopened.<p>

I was running through all the potential crimes I could have committed to land me in here when the door opened. The seat opposite me was pulled back and filled by a man. Even though he wasnt standing, I could tell he was extremely tall; his face was still and expressionless as he stared back at me and I couldnt help but feel as though his presence somehow... filled the room.

"I'm Special Agent Victor Benedict." He opened the folder in front of him and shuffled through the papers until he found the one he was looking for. He produced a photograph and slid it across the table; as soon as I saw who the photograph pictured, my eyes snapped back to his.

"Do you know who this is?" his voice was coaxing but I didn't reply - I wouldnt reply until I found out what this was about. He waited a few more seconds before he realised I wasnt going to answer.

"That's James Anderson. The James Anderson that's going on trial in a couple of months. The James Anderson that will be walking away without a punishment if we don't get witness to testify against him." So they had finally caught him and he was going to walk away like countless times before. Same old, same old.

"Anderson was very organised, he didn't leave any witnesses." _Alive. He didn't leave any witnesses alive._ "You however are an exception, Miss Heartly. I understand that a few years ago you were going to testify against him but he was never taken to court. We bought you here today to ask you to testify against him now. He will be in court in two months and we need you on the witness stand if we are going to have any chance of putting him away for a very long time." I broke my vow of silence to ask the one question that was eating away at me.

"What is he being tried for?" Agent Benedict seemed surprised at my sudden question but answered it anyway.

"He killed a fellow agent and injured others. We are also looking into older cases that he was thought to be involved in. Thats why you're here. When you were interviewed by the police in 2008 you said you saw him murder someone. How sure are you it was James Anderson?"

How sure was I? He murdered someone in front of me and then he put a bullet in my chest for good measure. I was pretty damn sure. But why now? Why speak to me now? That had happened years before and when it had nobody seemed particularly interested by it. Then it dawned on me. They were doing this because an agent had been killed. They were working this hard to convict Anderson because he had killed one of their own. This wasnt about the other people, this was about _their_ people.

I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted to go home, go to bed and forget i'd ever been dragged here but that wasnt an option. As much as I hated the fact that this case was only going to court because the FBI had to save face, I couldnt refuse to testify. I had to be a witness because that S.O.B had to suffer. When I looked up, I realised that Agent Benedict was waiting for me to answer.

"I'll do it. I'll be a witness." He gave me a small smile before grabbing the file and leaving the room. Only once he left did I realise that the photo of James Anderson was still on the table.

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><p><strong>READ AND REVIEW!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter guys, don't forget to Review!**

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><p>Things moved quickly after that; person after person came into the room and I was swamped with paperwork and policy rules. By the end of it, my body ached and I wanted nothing more than to sleep - this was not an option however as I had recently found out that a cold steel table was not exactly the best pillow in the world. The look of exhaustion on my face must have given someone the correct impression that I wanted to leave because Agent Benedict entered the room, coat in hand.<p>

"Ready to go?" It was a question that I could tell he already knew the answer to. I nodded anyway and got to my feet, swaying slightly due to my lack of physical activity; Agent Benedict took in my clothing and handed me the coat with a small smile. Apparently he'd never seen anyone wearing pjs in a FBI interrogation room.

It was cold outside and I was thankful when we got into the car and he turned on the heat.

"Where do you live?" He asked as he pulled out of his parking space. I wanted to joke about how he should know, being a fed and all, but I lacked the social skills needed to have that kind of conversation with a stranger so I reeled of my address instead.

"You live at a hotel?" He turned to me, his voice alarmed but my only response was a shrug. I liked hotels and plus it wasn't like I had a house or any family around here and I defiantly didn't have any friends i could stay with. Heck, I didn't even have any friends. He seemed to think this over but before he could come up with an answer, we had reached our destination.

The hotel wasn't the poshest but I had chosen it because the building itself looked like it had come straight out of a Jane Austen book. The walls were a faded white and the balcony above the entrance was held up by moss-covered pillars. It had looked perfectly out of place in the heart of Denver and I had booked a room as soon as I could. Agent Benedict didn't look impressed which didn't surprise me - he didn't seem like the Lizzy-Darcy kind of guy. He seemed like the Mr Bennet type - strong, authoritative, sick of everyone's crap... I wonder if I could get away with calling him Agent Bennet-dict? I was so caught up in my thoughts that I had failed to realise he had already entered the hotel which meant I had to run to catch up to him. He stood in the lobby holding my room key in his hand.

"Lead the way." I was surprised that he was walking me up to my room. Maybe the FBI had started a personal escort program and I was the first person to try it out on. When we got there, I expected him to leave but as soon as my door was unlocked, he walked straight in.

"Do you need any help packing your things?" His question caught me off guard and it took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

"Packing my things for what?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Witness protection, remember? You signed the paper earlier." Damn. I knew I should have read the papers before actually signing them. I don't want I be 'protected', especially if it involved talking to other people.

"Yeah, I don't think I need that. Can't I just stay here?" He shot me a look that told me if that was a possibility, he wouldn't be here.

"Your are most important witness right now. We can't have anything happening to you so were moving you to a safe house. It was all in the paperwork." The paperwork that I didn't read.

"Where is the safe house?"

"Wrickenwridge. About an hours drive from here." He paused to look at his watch. "We better get going." I had never heard of the place and I certainly didn't want to 'get going' but the way he stood there with his arms crossed gave me the feeling that if I didn't go willingly, I would be carried out to the car.

Ten minutes later, I was in the passenger seat. I had gotten changed into jeans and a shirt and Agent Benedict had carried my two bags out to the car. We were now headed towards Wrickenwridge or as I liked to call it, 'Hell on Earth'. There were hundreds of questions I wanted to ask but knew I wouldn't. Will there be other people there? Can I still go outside? Will I have to be followed everywhere? God, I hope there wasn't other people there. I don't deal well with large groups of unknown people. Or small groups of unknown people. Or people.

More questions arrived when we pulled up to a house that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The downstairs windows were alight and I could just make out the silhouettes of people moving around inside. So there were others here. Yay. I got out of the car and grabbed my bags from the back seat refusing the hand that Benedict held out for them. I was perfectly capable of holding my own bags and perfectly capable of making a run for it. Though one look at the dark trees had me putting of escape till it was lighter and there was less chance of being mauled by a werewolf or other mythical creature.

Benedict lead the way to the door and we stepped inside, dropping our bags, coats and shoes in the hallway. The house was warm and I could hear the sound of voices and laughter drifting out of the living room. Mentally preparing myself, I followed Benedict into the room and got my first look at its occupants.

There were two older people sitting on the couch along with two younger men with their respective girlfriends? I was no expert on safe houses but I was pretty sure this wasn't one. The picture frames that hung on the walls quickly told me that the people in the room were very close an judging by the two boys, related. The girls didn't feature in many pictures but the ones they did turn up in showed that my guess on them being the girlfriends was true. This wasn't a safe house, it was a family house. But who's family? I turned to Benedict for answers but he was looking to the older woman.

"Hey mom."

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><p><strong>So, I was wondering if I should put some chapters in from Victor's POV. What do y'all think?<strong>

**Also, thanks for the reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

**How are y'all today? Good? Good.**

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><p>Holy crap. No way was I going to be staying with Benedict's family. As if it wasn't bad enough having to be followed around, but now he expected me to live in a house full of his relatives. Not happening. I tried to inch closer to the door even thought I was positive that the majority of people in this room would easily catch me within seconds and the thought of running anywhere at this time of night really didn't appeal to me. Benedict's mother seemed to notice what I had in mind.<p>

"It's okay, dear. No need to be afraid." She gave me a small smile before turning to Benedict. "Well, Victor, introduce us!" Victor cleared his throat and gently pushed me into the centre of the room; I had been perfectly happy standing behind him where nobody could see me.

"This is River Heartly. River these are my parents, Saul and Karla, my brothers Yves and Zed and their Soul- uh girlfriend and wife, Sky and Phoenix." I got a small wave from everyone in the room apart from Karla who practically jumped the space between us to embrace me in a bone crushing hug.

"Poor, poor, dear. I dread to think what you've been through but don't you worry, were going to take good care of you and keep you safe." She was certainly...happy...at my arrival. "Victor take her things up to Xav's room. She'll be sleeping there and you're going to stay in Zed's room. Now how about something to eat, dear?"

"Actually, I'm not really that..." before I could finish my sentence she was gone "hungry." Benedict had gone too leaving me alone with the others; I tried to look busy but the polite conversations started anyway.

"So," the small blond girl walked up to me, her boyfriend in tow "how are you?" The question seemed like more of a formality than her actually wanting to know the answer but I replied anyway.

"I'm good." There was an awkward pause before I realised that it was my turn to ask. "How are you?"

"I'm good too. Phoenix and I are glad you're here. It will be nice to have some more girls in the house." She gave me a smile and I felt myself returning it.

"You live here?"

"No, but I spend lots of time here so you'll see me around often." She laughed at something her boyfriend had whispered to her and playfully punched him in the stomach. He responded by picking her up and dumping her on the sofa narrowly avoiding hitting me in the process. I decided to take my leave and made my way to the kitchen. Karla smiled at my arrival and placed a sandwich down in front of me.

"I hope that's okay. I can make you something else if you'd rather?"

"No this is fine, thank you." She pulled one of my hands across the table and wrapped it in her own.

"So polite, and pretty too. I'll have to tell our Victor to-"

"Have to tell Victor what?" We both turned to see him standing in the doorway, quizzical expression on his face.

"To take good care of you." Karla finished but I got the feeling that had not been what she was going to say. Benedict took a seat next to me and pulled out a piece of paper; I took a small bite out of my sandwich and saw him look at my plate then to his mother.

"No, if you want a sandwich, you make your own. I'm going to bed." She gave us a smile and said good night, leaving us alone in the kitchen. I pushed the plate aside and motioned to the other half of my sandwich. Benedict raised an eyebrow but picked it up anyhow.

"Thanks. Now we have some rules to run through and while your here, you will need to stick to them. Understood?" I nodded. "First, don't leave the house alone. Second don't leave the house without telling me, even if you are with someone else. And third, don't speak about the case to anyone other than me or other FBI agents." He finished writing them down and slid the paper over to me. I folded it and shoved it in my pocket; so I was going to be on a leash for the next 2 months. Great. I slid of the chair and finished off the rest of my sandwich.

"Come on. I'll show you to your room."

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><p><strong>The next chapter will be in Vic's POV but it will only be short so don't hate me. :D<strong>

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the late update :) Here's a chapter in Victor's POV. I don't know how often I'll write one in his POV but they will be popping up now and again. Enjoy.**

**P.S - All of this belongs to Joss Stirling which is, unfortunately, not me.**

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><p><span>Victor's POV<span>

I gave her a quick tour of the upstairs and left her outside Xav's room. She seemed awfully quiet but that was probably because she just found out she would be living with a bunch of strangers for the foreseeable future. I made my way back to the living room and dropped down onto the sofa that wasn't occupied.

"Nice one, bro," Zed threw a cushion at me from across the room "I didn't think you had it in you to pick up chicks but here we are. I'll have to ask her what charms you used to win her over."

"Shut up, Zed. She doesn't need to deal with any crap from you." I growled from across the room.

"Take it easy. It was a joke. We'll be nothing but polite to her, right Yves?"

"I will," Yves replied sarcastically "but you on the other hand..." Yves dodged the cushion that flew towards him and Phoenix just managed to do the same. This of course lead to a fight in the middle of the floor while Sky and Phoenix placed imaginary bets on who was going to win. The fight was over as soon as it had started and we settled into discussing the new sleeping arrangements.

"I can't believe Xav gave up his room so easily." Phoenix said and we all nodded. It was hard enough to get Xav to leave his room to eat let alone leave for two months so we could accommodate a stranger.

"I can." Zed replied, a smirk on his face. "He was just dying to get away from mom's watchfully eye and spend some alone time with his soulfinder, if you know what I mean." A chorus of groans met his statement.

"Don't say that, he's staying in my room!" My brothers laughed at my remark and I couldn't help but smile too; it had been so long since I'd been able to just sit and talk to them and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

"Ok, change of subject!" Sky shouted over the laughter. "Phee, you want to go into Denver soon? I really need to go clothes shopping."

"Sure, you think we should ask River if she would like to come along?" She directed this question at me but I was unsure how to answer. If River wanted to go, I couldn't stop her but she didn't really seem like the type of person who enjoyed those kind of things and she certainly didn't seem to like being around strangers.

"You could ask but I don't know what she'll say." It was true. I knew nothing about her. As I made my way to bed later that night, I tried not to think about the fact that a few doors down, there was a girl whos protection depended on me.

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><p><strong>READ AND REVIEW!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter is a bit longer because I dont know how soon im going to be able to update again due to mock exams. My spell check isnt working properly at the moment so I apologise in advance for bad spelling and grammar. Sorry :). Enjoy.**

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><p>I woke early the next morning and decided to unpack the small amount of things I had. The room was big enough to have a small en suite and I sent out a silent thank you to the universe for it. There was a wardrobe, a double bed, some draws and a desk in the corner; the walls were painted a pale blue, the same colour as the sky in summer and the black carpet was thick and soft under my bare feet.<p>

I piled my clothes into an empty draw and set about reorganising the rest of my stuff. When I had finished unpacking, I could hardly see a difference in the room. I travelled light so all of my worldly possession fit in the middle of the desk; a few books, my iPod and my small bag of toiletries pretty much summed up my life.

Instead of just standing around, I decided to do something productive and take a shower. By the time I had finished and dresses in some jeans and an old t-shirt it was still only 7.25. I left my room and made my way downstairs only to find that the bottom floor was empty; I guess I was the only early riser in the house.

I decided to snoop round the house before anyone else woke. I was always inquisitive and the chance at playing spy in a strange house was just two good to give up. I looked at all the picture frames, looked through all the cupboards, checked every closet - no skeletons, just piles of ski equipment that were no doubt used by him and his six brothers. It had come as a bit of a shock when I came across a picture of seven guys smiling at the camera; being an only child, it was strange to see a family with not only seven sons, but seven extremely good looking sons. I tried to think of a word that best described the handsomness of them all but my brain would only allow for 'damn' which was not an uncorrect statement because those boys...

Deciding it was probably best to stop creeping around the house, I waled over to the bookcase that was resting against one wall. My eyes scanned the shelves until they landed on an old hardback copy of one of my favourites - Jane Eyre. Although I carried a copy with me, I prided myself on reading every copy I came across. Pulling the book out of it's space, I set about finding a comfortable place for reading. In the end I settled for the window seat and pulled the curtains closed to shut me off from the outside world. As I read through the chapters, I could slowly feel myself drifting into sleep.

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><p>I woke to the sound of shouting and it took me a second to realise where I was; I had fallen asleep behind the curtains with the copy of Jane Eyre clutched tightly to my chest. The voices rose a notch and I listened to what they were saying.<p>

"She won't have gone far, she didn't even put her shoes on! She'll be back, she just needs some space."

"Space?" I recognised Benedict's voice straight away "I can't afford to give her space! There are plenty of people out there who will take the first opportunity they get to make sure she isn't a witness for Anderson's trial!"

It dawned on me then that they were talking about me. Jeez, try to read a book once in a while and people think you've gone off to get yourself in trouble. I rolled my eyes at Benedict's over exaggeration and hopped down from behind the curtain. He stood with his back to me and blocked me off from seeing anyone else in the room. This guy really was tall but then again, so were the majority of people in this house.

I reached out to tap him on the arm causing him to swing round and me to have to duck to avoid being hit in the face. Once he registered it was me, a look of relief flashed across his face before it changed back into one of anger.

"Where the hell have you been?" His voice was sharp and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at him; his current hands-on-hips-narrow-eyes stance made him look awfully similar to my 3rd grade teacher when I accidentally threw up on him during the Christmas show.

"I was reading," I lifted the book up for his inspection "on the window seat. I fell asleep." He gave me a look over and when he realised that a book and a nap were not going to put me in any immediate danger, he dropped the tough guy look and let out a sigh.

"The next time you feel like reading, please let someone know that's what your doing so I don't have to worry about where the hell you are. Deal?"

"Deal." He nodded at my answer and made his way to the kitchen, talking back at me from over his shoulder.

"You should get something to eat, Jane Eyre can wait." I wanted to argue the many reasons for which Jane Eyre could not wait but he had already dissapeared into the kitchen. I could now see that Karla and Saul were in the room with me and were giving me what I assumed were appologetic looks.

"Don't mind him," Karla spoke in a soft voice "he means well." I could see from the look on her face that something was troubling her; I had tried my hardest to avoid eye contact the previous night but I still saw the way she looked at Benedict, like she was waiting for him to breakdown. I nodded at her statement and quickly looked away; I wanted to be apart of their family problems about as much as i wanted to bathe in a tub on poisonous snakes.

"I thought I said Jane Eyre could wait!" Benedict called from the kitchen. This guy clearly had no respect for litrature or free will and if it wasnt for the fact that I was kind of living with him, I would have given him a peice of my mind. Instead, I bit my tounge and walked into the kitchen, not bothering to meet his eyes as I grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl. I started to regret my choice of fruit moments later after multipul failed attemps of peeling the skin off.

"Having trouble?" I didn't have to look up to know that the jerk was smiling and I had to stop myself from throwing the fruit at his head. _Manners, River. Remember he knows how to use a gun. _Good point.

"No, I'm fine." It was quiet for a few seconds as I continued to struggle and I thought he had dropped the matter until a hand reached across the table and took the orange from me. I was about to protest but he had already began peeling the fruit and handed it back to me a few seconds later.

"Thanks." I mumbled as I stuffed some peices into my mouth before I had a chance to remember I was not alone_. Oh well, he already knows you can't peel an orange, he might as well know your a slob too._

"No problem." he replied as he absentmindedly reached across the table and took a peice of orange. I rolled my eyes and threw him a couple more peices which he caught on reflex before picking up the rest of them and shoving them into my mouth. He gave me a smile which had me nearly chocking on my food. Damn. Note to self: making Benedict smile was worth it. REALLY REALLY worth it.

Once i had composed myself, I realised that Benedict was flicking through a manilla folder. AWESOME. I'd have to remember to "borrow" it for a while so I could go around pretending I was working a case like Horatio or Mac Taylor. If I could get hold of some police tape, I could easily turn my new room into a mini crime scene in a couple of hours.

For now, I decide to question Benedict on the folders contense; I got the feeling it was probably something related to Anderson.

"Agent Benedict?" He looked up "Whats in the folder?" He looked at me for a while as if deciding if he could trust me. My question, however, was purely polite; if he said no, I would simply read it when he wasnt around.

"Cold cases." He sighed and closed the folder. "Thats what we call cases that havent been sol-"

"I know what a cold case is." He raised an eyebrow in question. I debated wether I should tell the truth or spin a story about how my father had worked for the CIA and my mother was an assassin. I decided on the truth seeing how he probably already knew everything about me that the national database would allow. I did however, decide on leaving out the parts about how much of my childhood was taken up by using telekenisis to reenact and recreat past episodes of CSI to see if the cases were solved in a logical and scientifically correct one good thing about being a savant. That and being able to awesomely cosplay X-Men Characters.

"I like CSI. A lot." I shrug as if I have memerised nearly every episode.

"Yeah?" He sounds surprised. _What did he expect me to do in my free time? Drink skinny lattes and gossip with my girlfriends? _"All crime dramas of just CSI?" Finally! Something I could actually have a conversation about.

"Oh, I like most of them. CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, The Mentalist, Castle. There all awesome and they all have really good plots, you know? Plus the casts are amazing and their outfits are super cool! I actually have a t-shirt that says CSI on it and I -" I stopped mid sentence and mentally slapped myself. Repeatedly. Wow, I thought I had my fangirling under control but here I was gushing my heart and soul out to an amused looking FBI agent.

"Sorry." I could feel my cheeks begin to heat; any minute now I would turn into a perculiar shade of beetroot.

"Don't worry about it. I look forward to hearing more about this CSI t-shirt." He smirked as he said this and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms in fornt of him. "It sounds very interesting." Douche! You can mock me, but you don't mock CSI. Before I could give it a second thought, I flicked my wrist towards the two of his chair legs that were still on the floor and he began to wobble before falling to the ground. I bit back a smile as I rushed over to him.

"Are you okay Agent Benedict?" He looked puzzled but nodded and pulled himself of the ground. It was his turn to go red.

"Im fine." He coughed and I gave a small nod before turning to leave the room with a smile on my face.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R! I hope y'all had a good holiday!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**I really do need to study now! Thank you to all of those who reviewed and i'll try to update this as soon as I can.**

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><p>I was allowed outside after breakfast and although I welcomed the small amount of freedom, I would have preferred to have gone alone; instead I was accompanied by everyone but Benedict's parents. Once we were outside however, we all split up which meant that I was left mostly to myself with Benedict trailing behind me. I pulled my IPod out of my borrowed coat and put in my earphones; I put the playlist on shuffle and took in my surroundings.<p>

It was beautiful here in the daytime. It was the kind of place I would want to live; the frost on the ground cracking underfoot, the mountains looming over the trees, the sun bathing everything in a yellow light. I could just imagine it being filled with fairytale creatures like the books I had read as a kid.

The scenery allowed me to forget the reason for why I was here and I wondered through the trees, lost in thought. I hummed along to my music and hopped from stone to stone like I used to when I was little and would pretend that the ground was shark invested waters. I stopped at different trees to see if I could wrap my arms around them fully. I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch any birds that landed close enough to me. I forgot about everything.

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><p><span>Vic POV<span>

I trailed behind River as she explored the woods and I found myself smiling at her actions - especially when she was running around after birds. She seemed happier outside of the house and I wondered wether I had made the right decision in bringing her here. At the time, I had been thinking about what would be the easiest option for me but I didn't account for how she would feel about the arrangements. She was different to any witnesses I had dealt with before; she was withdrawn but I got the feeling that it was nothing to do with Anderson or the trial.

I thought back to earlier. When I had fallen off my chair, I had just brushed it off as me being clumsy but the more I thought about it, the more I started to think otherwise. The chair was perfectly stable one second and then the next I was on the floor. It was almost like someone had pushed me but nobody was around apart from River and she wasn't anywhere near me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and looked up just in time to see River balancing on the back of a bench, arms outstretched. That really wasn't safe.

"River!" I called out to her but she didn't seem to hear. _She's listening to music._ I rolled my eyes at my stupidness and made my way over to her. I reached out a hand and tapped her on the arm to gain her attention.

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><p><span>River<span>

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I failed to realise that Benedict was behind me. When he tapped me on the arm, I had a mini heart attack and spun around in surprise. This of course made me loose my balance and I managed to let out a small squeak before I was falling backwards.

Desperate to save myself from the impact of the cold ground, I used telekinesis to try and cushion my fall. The result of this was me curled up in a fetal position hovering a few inches over the ground before I let go and dropped to the floor. I let out a noise that I imagined was very similar to the noise a dying seal would make and brushed a stray leaf off my face. Graceful.

I rolled onto my back and rolled my eyes to the sky before sitting up which was about the time when my jaw hit the ground. Standing a few steps away from me was a shocked looking FBI agent. In my hurry to save my ass, I had forgotten that I had company. I could feel myself going red; not only had Benedict just witness me fall on my face, he had also witnessed me floating in the God damn air.

OMG! How the hell was I going to get myself out of this one? I had just broken the first rule of savant club - Don't let anyone find out about savant club. _Maybe he didn't notice._ Who am I kidding, he clearly noticed or he wouldn't be looking at me like I was a slide under a microscope. A very suspicious, possibly escaped mental patient slide.

I stood up and brushed the dirt from my clothes while simultaneously hopping he wasn't about to call the nearest psycho ward.

_Say something. Say something. Say something._

"Uh, you surprised me." Way to go, River.

"I can see that. At you ok?" He narrowed his eyes at me and tilted his head to the side, as if a sideways view of my face would answer some of his questions.

"I'm good." So was the tree behind him which I was staring at intently in order to avoid eye contact.

"You're also a savant." My eyes snapped to his. He knew about savants? He knew about savants! Wait, was this the "Yay, savants are awesome!" knowing or the "You should all be tested on for science." knowing?

"What do you know about savants?"

"I know that your one and..." He paused as if he was debating how he should phrase the next part of the sentence "And I'm one."

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><p><strong>DUN, DUN, DUN...<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Back to school on monday so I dont know when i'll next be able to update but i'll try not to keep you waiting to long...**

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><p><span>River<span>

What?! Benedict was a savant? I was not expecting that. I walked backwards until I bumped into the bench and leaned back against it.

"Damn." He let out a laugh and moved so he was leaning on the bench next to me.

"Are your family savants too?" He nodded. I had been surrounded by savants and hadn't even noticed. Something dawned on me then.

"Sky and Phoenix? Are they?"

"Yeah. Their my brothers soulfinders." That explained a lot. They seemed to be attached at the hip whenever I saw any of them together and I had wondered about Phoenix and Yves being married so young.

"Wow, I don't even realise."

"You're not the only one." He sighed and turned to me. "The FBI really should have known you were a savant. It would have made things easier if we had as we knew that Anderson was targeting savants but we couldn't prove it."

"He... The man that Anderson killed was a savant." I remembered him clearly but I never knew his name. Never knew who he was. "But why? Why is he targeting savants?"

"The bigger question is how does he even know about us?" My head jerked up and I looked at Benedict. He didn't know. How could he not know? The FBI was starting to disappoint me with their inability to do accurate research.

"I think you should replace whoever was in charge of profiling Anderson." He looked at me in question. "Agent Benedict, Anderson is a savant too."

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><p>After I told him that, Benedict went into full FBI mode which, I must admit, was a little scary. He was very serious and I could just imagine him interrogating criminals much like Gibbs would.<p>

It appeared that the case against Anderson had more then a few holes in it and I began to wonder if once again he would be walking away without punishment. Someone was going to have to take drastic measures in order to insure Anderson spent the rest of his life rotting in prison.

After I had promised to tell Benedict immediately if I remembered anything else of importance, we headed back inside. The rest of his family were in the living room having what looked to be a heated game of Monopoly.

"Finally," Zed called out as we entered the room "we desperately need more players who aren't freaking geniuses like Einstein over there." He gestured to Yves who was looking very smug as he looked through a very large pile of colourful paper money.

"Why does that feel like an insult?" I directed my question at Benedict who looked like he was thinking the same thing. He laughed and rolled his eyes at Zed and I found myself smiling back at him.

"So are you game?" Yves looked like he would very much enjoy beating us in the game and I would have excepted the challenge but there was one small problem.

"Uh, I don't know how to play Monopoly." Everybody turned to look at me in shock and I mentally added 'cannot play Monopoly' to my list of things that were socially unacceptable.

"What did you do all your childhood?"

"Generally avoided the other children." They all laughed at this but I could tell that they couldn't really tell if I was being serious. I was.

"Well," Phoenix was looking at me strangely, like she knew something the others didn't "we can teach you. Victor is very good at this game, maybe he'll give you a few pointers."

So I joined the others and tried my hardest to understand the game that apparently was "Great for ages 8+". I was clearly only 7.

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><p>I sat upright in bed and kicked the covers off me as I reached for my iPod - 3:37. Great. There was no chance of me getting back to sleep anytime soon but I didn't want to sit in this room for hours either. Rolling over, I fell out of bed and onto the floor were I stayed for a few moments while I thought about possible things to do.<p>

When I had made up my mind, I jumped to my feet and made my way out of the door. The house was pitch black but I didn't want to wake anyone by turning on the light; instead I made my way blindly downstairs and into the kitchen managing to only walk into three walls and a door.

Flicking on the kitchen light I began to look for Benedict's case file and soon found it on the side next to a closed laptop. I sat down at the table and opened the folder. As I expected it was about Anderson. It contained a pile of paperwork and seven pictures; it took me a while to realise that they were his victims. Five men, two women. Add on the man he killed in front of me and that was 8 people he had killed. 8 known people. Who knows how many more there are.

I stared at their faces until i started to feel sick and shoved them back where they came from. Those people had families and because of one man, they would never see them again, never see anything again. I smashed my hand against the file which was an action I immediately regretted when i remembered that there was a marble worktop underneath it.

Clutching my throbbing hand to my chest, I began scrambling around the kitchen in search of a first aid kit. I have to get to the bathroom, it will probably be in there.

When I got back upstairs however, I realised I was going to have a problem finding the bathroom let alone anything in it. The doors were all the same and coupled with the darkness of the landing, I could hardly make out which door was my own.

I headed for the door closest to me and listened for any noise coming from behind it. Nothing. Gripping the handle with my good hand, I opened the door only to shut it again after I saw people sleeping in a bed. I moved to the next door and tried to control my breathing. I couldn't believe I was doing this. It's one thing to sneak about at night reading confidential files, it's another to go creeping around in people's room while their sleeping. I was about to give up and just return to my room when I remembered my hand; I could just make out that it was starting to swell. Just wonderfull.

I pushed open the door and looked in. This room was even darker but I couldn't see any sign of a bed. I took another step forward and reached out for something to give me a clue of the contents of the room. Nothing. Making my way further into the room, I began to have doubts. There was no way the bathroom could be this big so I clearly wasn't in it which meant I was in someone else's room.

I turned to leave but ended up treading on something and nearly falling over. Something moved next to me and I heard a groan. I was so busted! Hoping to make a run for the door, I started to move but a firm hand grabbed my leg and stopped me from going anywhere. Seconds later a light was being shined in my face and I had to shield my eyes from the glow.

"River? What the hell?" The light moved from me to the floor and I could just make out Benedict's face.

"Sorry! I was looking for the bathroom but all of the doors look the same in the dark and I didn't want to turn on a light incase I woke anyone but I guess I did that anyway and I'm really sorry!" I ended my speech by turning bright red and for the first time tonight I was glad that the lights were off so I couldn't be seen.

"You have a bathroom in your room." His tone was sceptical. Oh God, he probably thought I was some kind of weirdo that snuck into people's rooms at night. Well...

"Not one with a first aid kit." As soon as I had said this he was on his feet torch in hand.

"Are you hurt?"

"Kind of." He turned off the light and reached out for my wrist, guiding me out of the room and down the landing to another door. When we were inside, he closed the door and clicked on the light.

So this was the bathroom. Second door on the left. Benedict opened a cupboard and pulled out a white box.

"Where are you hurt?" I held up my hand in front of him. In the light I could see that two of my knuckles were swollen and bruised. Benedict noticed this too and let out a low whistle.

"How did you manage this?" He pulled my hand towards him and turned it in different directions, observing the damage. His fingers were warm as they brushed over my hand and I suddenly became very conscious that I was in an inclosed space with a guy I hardly knew in only a t-shirt and shorts.

"I recently joined an illegal fighting ring. We meet every Wednesday." He laughed at this and pulled an ice pack out of the box, crushing it in his hand to activate it. I winced as he placed it against my hand but the coldness soon became comforting.

"I don't think anything is broken but you should get it checked out. My brother Xav is a healer, I'll give him a call in the morning."

"Xav? I'm staying in his room right?" He nodded an I let out a laugh. "He has more hair products then I do!" Benedict smiled at me and began packing the first aid kit away.

"Really? He took most of them with him." I shook my head at this but I secretly wanted to meet him. After I had looked at the pictures of Benedict's family I wanted to be able to put names to faces. I wondered which one Xax would be. Benedict opened the door and we stepped back into the dark hallway.

"Thank you, agent Benedict and, uh, sorry for waking you up."

"No problem, I'm glad I can help those who were injured while participating in illegal activities." He had no idea. I smiled and turned toward the door I was 99% sure lead to my room.

"And River," I turned back to look at him "you can call me Victor."

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><p><span>Victor<span>

You can call me Victor? What the hell was I thinking! I closed the door behind me and dropped onto the floor, pulling the duvet over my head. I was such an idiot. Way to make things weird, Vic. God, what was up with me. I was meant to be looking after her but all I seemed to be doing was embarrassing myself.

Ugh, it wasn't my fault. I couldn't seem to think straight around her. I thought back to how a few minutes ago she had been standing here in her pjs looking more beautiful then someone should be allowed to at four in the morning.

She always looked beautiful with her big brown eyes and wavy hair. I'd noticed when I had first met her but I hadn't allowed myself to think about it but know she was here, it was like... No. Im doing my job. Shes here for a reason and so am I.

I turned over, buried my face in my pillow and waited for sleep.

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><p><strong>THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEW, FOLLOWS AND FAVOURITES!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**I just want to thank you all so much. I have been really busy these past weeks with mock exams and you guys have all been really patient with me. Y'all are really great! Exams are over for now so I will be back to updating more often. Thank you!**

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><p>The next time I woke, sunlight was streaming through my window and I could hear people talking downstairs. Pulling myself out of bed, I stumbled into the shower and was out again a few minutes later. The hot water did a good job at waking me up and by the time I had gotten dressed and dried my hair, I only felt slightly out of it.<p>

I had slept with the ice pack all night but it hadn't done much to reduce the swelling and the bruises were much darker now. That's when I remembered that Benedic- uh, Victor, had said he would call his doctor brother. That was probably why there was so much noise coming from downstairs.

When I got downstairs, the living room was empty so I moved towards the kitchen. From outside, I had the advantage of listening to their conversation without being seen.

"How did she do it? People don't just wake up with busted hands, you know." A voice that I didn't recognise. Xax?

"No! Don't they?" Another voice I didn't know but this one was female and very sarcastic. My curiosity got the better of me and I poked my head around the door. A quick head count told me that there were six new people here. The size of this family was starting to get ridiculous.

I waited for what seemed like forever until one of them looked up and met my eyes. It was Karla.

"Sweetheart! Come in, don't be scared. These are my other sons and their" she paused to look at Victor who nodded at her "soulfinders. Don't worry, Victor told us that you're a savant. That's just wonderful isn't it, Victor."

"I guess." I doubted that he knew why it was 'wonderful' anymore then I did. I stepped further into the kitchen and smiled. I wasn't small on any account but I felt like at any minute, these giants would forget I was here and accidentally squish me.

"What's funny, cupcake?" I looked around for the source of the voice and my eyes landed on a tall, willowy guy who had way better fashion sense then me - that wasn't really hard to achieve though. He could have worn a black bag and still looked more together then I did right know.

"Cupcake?" My question received a few smirks but no answers. "I, uh, it's just your all so tall. Kind of scary." He laughed at this but before he could reply a tall girl with curly hair stepped I front of him.

"Don't mind that idiot. I'm crystal and that is my sister Diamond, Trace, that one over there is Will and... Uriel." She pointed out three men and an average sized - finally- woman which meant that beauty queen in the corner was Xav. I gave a small wave as I was guided over to a chair in front of the doctor.

"How may I be of assistance, my lady?" I smirked at his behaviour and raised my hand for his inspection.

"And how does one get an injury like this, may I ask?" I thought for a moment before replying. I desperately wanted to say something sassy and Jane Austen-y but I decided not to seeing as this guy was going to be in charge of fixing my hand. I looked over to Victor who was staring back, waiting for my answer as well. Time to confess, well at least to some things.

"Well, last night I couldn't sleep, you see, so I came down here to get a drink. Then I ended up punching the table which was a bad idea because its marble and marble is, like, really hard and my hand is..." Get to the point, River "not. Oh and I walked into a wall." I pushed my hair back to show him the bruise that had formed next to my hairline.

"Okay then..." He cast an amused look at someone behind me before continuing. "Lets get you fixed up." I nodded and watched as he closed his eyes and wrapped my hand in his. There was no pain at first but after a few seconds my hand felt like it was on fire and I couldn't help but wince. Victor saw this and tried to distract me.

"Uri's taking forensic science in collage." This got my attention and I turned to look at the guy in question. He was as tall as Victor but he had lighter colouring then the others -hazel eyes and gold shot hair. "Maybe he would like to hear about your CSI t-shirt." He smirked and I shot him a glare. He should be thankful his chair was properly on the ground or I would have sent him flying again. I decided to ignore him and turned to Uriel.

"Is it a good course?" He smiled at me and moved closer, taking a seat next to Victor.

"What do you want to know?"

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><p>Victor<p>

When Xav had finished healing River and she had run out of questions for Uri, we all went our separate ways. I was about to follow Will into the living room when I was cornered by Crystal.

"Can I speak to you for a minute, Vic?"

"Sure." She lead the way to the front of the house so we were near the front door and away from everyone else.

"What's up?" Crystal looked nervous as she began to speak.

"When I met River this morning, I got this feeling that I had met her before. How do I put this... Her presence felt familiar. So I did a bit of telepathic digging and I think I know why I felt that way." What is she talking about? River presence was familiar?

"Have you met her before?" That was the only logical reason I could think of as for why we were having this conversation.

"No." She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes, words coming out in arush. "Victor, I'm 99% sure that she is your soulfinder. I mean, I would be 100% sure but this is my first time doing this and im not really sure on how acurate I am with it yet. But I would bet my life on River being your soulfinder." I stared at Crystal for a good minute before I could speak again and when I could, I only managed one word.

"What?" She rolled her eyes at me and started jumping on the spot.

"Are you happy? I didn't know when to tell you but I figured you would want me to tell you first before everyone else found out. This is awesome. I have to tell Xav!" She was about to turn around when I stopped her.

"Don't. Not yet. I should tell River first." Crystal sighed but shrugged and nodded before bouncing back to the living room.

Once she was out of sight, I let the news hit me. I had my soulfinder. She was in this house with me right now and had been for a few days! River was my soulfinder. Now I had to tell her. What if she didn't want to be with me? What if she did? I managed to stop myself from jumping on the spot out of happiness by reminding myself that I was a 23 year old FBI agent in a house full of people that would forever use it against me.

I tried to look calm as i made my way to the kitchen, ignoring the little happy dance Crystal was currently doing in the corner of the room. I stopped at the door and looked in; River and Xav seemed to be having some sort of competition to see who could fit the most marshmallows in their mouth and I guessed that the strange, mumbling noises they were making were supposed to be words.

I waited for them to finish the game and took the time to look at my soulfinder. Just look at her. The way her hair was thrown up in a loose ponytail. The way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed. She was wearing a too big t-shirt and she had marshmallow on her face but she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. And she was mine.

She chose this moment to look up and meet my eyes. She smiled when she saw me and waved me over.

"She," Xav leaned over and took the last marshmallow out of her hand "is a cheater! You think I didn't see you! Cheater!" River laughed and took the marshmallow back from him and shoved it in her mouth.

"Just because you lost to a girl." I laughed at how angry she sounded and decided to give her some dirt on Xav.

"That's not the first time he's lost to a girl. A couple of years ago, he was bragging about how good he was at skiing and he challenged this girl to a-" An orange flew from the fruit bowl and I ducked just in time to avoid being hit in the face.

"Crystal!" Xav shouted "Vic's being mean, come save me!"

"Save yourself you idiot! And get out of the kitchen, Victor has work to do!" Xav raised an eyebrow but I shook my head.

_You'll find out later._

_I don't doubt it._ He left us alone in the kitchen and shut the door.

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><p><strong>Drop a review if you want!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for!**

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><p>I looked up at Victor and tried to decipher his expression; he normally looked so cool and calm so the fact that he could bareley look me in the eyes was strange and somewhat alarming. Paired with the fact that he had "work to do", I was starting to get a little nervous.<p>

"What's up?" I gave myself brownie points for managing to keep my voice calm and casual. Something my mind was currently failing at. Strange behaviour from Victor could not be a good thing.

"We need to talk." He sounded calmer then he looked but I could still sense something different in his tone of voice. It sounded close to nervousness but I quickly dismissed this thought, we were talking about Victor Benedict after all.

"About the case?" Oh God, what was he going to tell me? Had Anderson hurt someone else while I was sitting here stuffing my face with marshmallows? I'm such an idiot. I should have never thought that things would change.

"No," Oh, thank God "about us." Wait, what? As far as I was concerned, there was no us. I mean sure he was attractive and smart and funny and charming and did I mention attractive, but me thinking that did not mean there was an us. Sure, he helped with my hand and smiled at me occasionally but that was all part of the job description. His job description. The only 'us' I could think of was the protector - protected one.

"I'm not sure I follow." He smiled and took the seat next to me, leaving very little space between the two of us.

"I'll try to explain. You see a few minutes ago, I was told something that would have either a positive or a negative effect on the rest of my life. You are the only person who can decide which." He paused and looked at me to make sure I understood. I didn't really. His method of explanation only had me more confused. I was in charge of making the decision?

"Whatever you chose is completely up to you. I want you to know that I won't be mad at you and that I'll respect your decision, ok?"

"What's the choice?" I really wanted to know what the hell was going on and why the hell my choice would impact the rest of his life. Maybe he was going to make me choose which football team to bet his life savings on. If he was, he better be prepared to spend the rest of his life without money.

"I was getting to that." He let out a breath and met my eyes. "What would you say if I told you we were soulfinders?"

**Victor**

Silence. Oh crap, she was probably thinking of the nicest way to reject me right now. I tried not to look destroyed as I stood up but I knew I was probably failing. It felt like my life was slowly caving in on me and i couldn't escape. _Remember what you told her._

"Really, it's fine if you don't wan-"

"Are you sure?"

"What?"

"About us being soulfinders?" I tried to remember what Crystal had said. There was a 99% chance. That was pretty likely, right?

"Crystal seems to think so and she is a soulfinder." Trust me to be the one to get rejected. What did I expect though? I hadn't exactly been the best towards her.

"Maybe we should talk. Telepathically, I mean." Why hadn't I thought of that? If I spoke to her, she would know it was true and then maybe, just maybe, she would want to stick with me. I tried to control my excitement as I agreed to it and instead focused on reaching out to her mind instead.

She had dropped her shields and I tried not to look too closely at the things going around in her thoughts. I couldn't stop myself from smiling, however, when I saw I was in a few of her recent memories.

I refocused and thought of something to say to her. I decided to go for the easiest option.

_Hello?_ I waited for her reply.

_Hi._

I had listened to my brothers describe the feeling a hundred times but it was nothing to actually experiencing it. As soon as she replied, it was like my brain recognised her straight away. Like she was the name of a song that I loved but couldn't remember until I heard it. My mind just seemed to open up and my body coursed with energy like I had been living my life only half charged.

I opened my eyes to find her staring back at me, a small smile on her face. God, she looked beautiful and I was halfway through reaching out to her when I remembered something.

"It's still your decision wether you want this." I waited for her reply and prepared myself for the disappointment that I was sure was coming. River rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Victor, you idiot. Get over here!" I wasted no more time and quickly crossed the distance between us. Leaning over her, I placed one arm on the back of her chair and placed a hand under her chin, bringing her lips to mine.

As soon as they met, my body was set alight and I couldn't stop myself from moving an arm to her waist and pulling her closer. She didn't seem to mind and instead responded by wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling herself upwards until we were both standing, no space between us.

When we finally broke apart, I buried my head in her shoulder and let out a breath. This is what I had been waiting for all my life and I would have happily waited another 23 years if I knew this would be waiting for me. I moved my lips across her neck and felt her shiver. I would never get tired of this. Never.

"Finally." She huffed "Where have you been the past 23 years?" I laughed at this. I was feeling the exact same way.

"I was waiting for this." I ran a hand over her hair and took out the band securing it together, letting the waves spill over my hands and sighing in ecstasy. She leaned into me, head resting on my shoulder.

"You know what this means, don't you?" I shook my head.

"It means no more making fun of my CSI t-shirt."

"I'm not sure I can promise that..." I leaned back and raised her chin for another kiss.

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><p><strong>SOULFINDERS! Did you enjoy? I think I kept you waiting long enough. :D Don't forget to leave a review!<strong>


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